Abstract
The ingestion of a high-fat diet by rats deprived of vit. B1 diminished the excretion of bisulphite-binding substances in their urine and alleviated the severity of the bradycardia. The aneurin-sparing action of fat, therefore, is not limited to its effect in protecting such animals against loss of wt. or the development of the better known symptoms of deficiency, but shows itself likewise in the absence of these 2 characteristic signs of the avitaminosis. The significance of these results for vit. assays, and for the assessment of deficiency, is discussed.